DC'S LEGENDS OF TOMORROW 6.8

 

RECAP - DC'S LEGENDS OF TOMORROW  6.8:  "Stressed Western"  

Well...our Timestream Toublemakers try to adjust to having SOME sense of "normal"....at least for them.  Their intrepid Captain is back, and they're looking to get back to business:  fixing the timeline, and eliminating the aliens that have landed in it, and screwed it up.....mostly due to Sara and Gary having dumped them when they fought Gary's ex-fiance.   But before they get down to the next adventure---they want to properly welcome their Captain home.

So, we got the team whipping up a monster breakfast for Sara, who still hasn't revealed to the team that she's half alien.  She isn't quite ready to tell the team what happened to her, even though she just revealed it to Ava.  She wants to keep it under wraps until she has time to settle back in and come to terms with it herself.   But she professes to Ava that everything is fine.  Everyone wants to get time with Sara, but Ava wants as much time with her as possible.  So, she gets the big breakfast, but her appetite isn't where it usually is, and she settles on the smoothie Zari left instead.  Gideon interrupts Ava and Sara getting closer, as she finds yet another alien messing up the timeline....this time in a old western town named Fist City in the late 1800's.  Sara wants to have a romp, so Nate rallies the troops, and they head into the past to confront this new alien threat to the timeline. 

Before they take off, John confronts Gary about The Fountain of Imperium, and Gary says it's just a myth, and he doesn't believe it exists.  John walks off in a huff, and Gary looks on...knowing he just lied to John. 

When they get to the town, they find out it's....different.  They walk into the saloon, and as soon as they bump into one of the patrons, it looks as if a fight will break out.  Instead, the man is courteous, and orders them drinks....all soda.  There's no alcohol there, and also no gambling as well.  They see the list of rules, and find it weird.  From their research, this town was protected by the first black deputy sheriff named Bass Reeves, but he's considered an outlaw based on a wanted poster of him posted.  The actual sheriff of the town is a man named Stapleton, who was supposed to be the outlaw criminal based on history.  A balladeer shows up, and the saloon breaks out in song, as he tells the story of the sheriff, and Stapleton arrives, curious about the strangers who've come into town.  At this point, Sara is downing milkshakes like they're going out of style, and Ava is worried about her, and why she's acting the way she's acting.  Behrad makes nice with one of the locals, and his sister doesn't think the girl is right for him.  Nate is just trying to keep the peace, and Astra is not happy that the guys playing Go Fish at the tables have no gold on them, and she's heard of it.  She wants to grab some for herself.  Spooner, trying to sense the alien, and Astra giving her grief for having the foil in the hat.  

The tension between team members causes a rumble underneath the ground.  the card player and Astra have words, and they get angry.  Then, the alien shows up---a worm---that ends up swallowing the card player.  It takes the whistle from Stapleton to quell the alien, and force it back underground.  He tells the team to eat up, have a drink or two, and then hit the road.  They question Gary about it, and he says it's a Hadarac---and it feeds on anger.  They realize they have to get the whistle from the sheriff, so they head to the square dance....minus Astra and Spooner are left behind because of their tempers.  Astra then wants to follow the trail to find the gold of the card player.  So, she wants Spooner to help her find it.  She eggs Spooner about her powers, and says that she should learn to control them, instead of it controlling her.  She talks about her time in Hell, and having to fight for her power.  Spooner opens up about her mother, and how she had to survive without her.  Astra did not know this.  They end up finding the worm, and it turns out that the worm leaves a trail of gold in its wake.  They have been followed this whole time by Bass....who's curious as to who they are.  Bass says that this worm turned Fist City into a boomtown, and there's no way the townsfolk are going to let anything happen to the worm.  

At the square dance, Sara and Stapleton talk, and she challenges him to a shootout.  Winner gets the whistle, and the loser leaves town.  Stapleton agrees.  Ava wonders why Sara would do this, and Sara is calm, and she says she needs this.  Meanwhile, Zari and Behrad continue to argue about his flirtation with the woman, Ava is upset Sara is putting herself in danger.  The ground begins to rumble as the alien gets restless.  So, Sara and Stapleton have their showdown, and Stapleton shoots Sara in the head before she gets a chance to turn around.  However, Sara gets up and heals her head wound...a byproduct of her alien DNA.  She then turns around, and Stapleton continues to fire on her, but she takes all the bullets.  She then shoots the whistle off Stapleton.  The worm takes out Stapleton, and then the woman Behrad flirted with turns on the Legends, and they won't let them take the worm from them, so they start shooting at the Legends, who hide inside the saloon.  While the team is trying to figure out what to do, they all begin to argue.  Ava and Sara argue about what she just did, the siblings argue about Behrad's flirting with the woman, and John feels that if he had his magic, this wouldn't be a problem...and that's on Gary.  Nate has tried to keep the order, but then he tells the team to screw themselves, and starts to vent about trying to make this adventure fun for Sara, how he's had to listen to everyone else's problems, and how he's been all by himself because he's without the woman he loves, who's stuck in a totem.  He then goes outside, raging, and hoping to draw the alien to him.  Everyone wonders just what Nate is doing, so they all commiserate outside and see the alien approach Nate, ready to eat him.  But Astra and Spooner arrive in time with Bass to see Nate about to be eaten.  Spooner gets into the alien's head long enough to distract it, and Astra musters up enough magic to destroy the creature.

With the town back to normal, and Bass reasserted as sheriff, and how he uses everything he knows about the townsfolk to ensure they'll toe the line.  Back aboard the ship, Gary tells John where he can find the Fountain...but the only one who's got a clue to where it's at is Aleister Crowley....So, John takes off to find the Fountain to get his magic back...and Gary warns him that if he gets the map to be careful...no one's survived trying to find it.  The siblings make up, and Behrad realizes that Nate's been suffering without HIS Zari.  So, he lends Nate the totem to go and visit Zari within it, but just return it when he's done.  Sarah and Ava seem to be okay again as well.  

Well....we got back to some of the hijinks that makes our Waverider Bunch fun to watch.  We did get a decent dose of humor, but we also got some character development here.  I think that since they got engaged, Ava has now been taking more of a protective stance with Sara.  Call it the "worrisome wife" syndrome, but she's now going into that role.  She has yet to understand the struggle Sara is going through, as she realizes what her alien DNA has given her...a super healing factor, and an immensely indestructible body.  Sara is dealing with her humanity and what it means.  This week, she was unsure about how the team would react if they knew she was half alien.  That brings me to Spooner, and how she not only kept sensing the alien, but Gary as well.  However...it makes me wonder if she could sense Sara's half alien DNA as well.  Astra also made a good point to Spooner about taking control of her powers...and not letting them dictate to Spooner, but the other way around.  Astra also learned that Spooner is a lot like her:  rough around the edges, angry, and both lost someone they loved most:  their mothers.  It was also cool to see Behrad give Nate a helping hand by letting him borrow his part of the totem in order for him to visit Zari 1.0 inside it.  

We got a different guest role for David Ramsey, who also directed this episode.  So, while not a John Diggle appearance, he got a nice little guest role to help the plot along.  Sadly, no real interaction between him and Sara...but it's always good to see Ramsey on TV.  And did anyone notice that Mick had a small part in this week's episode?  He pretty much slept and ate steak in this episode as they went to the Old West.  I guess that they didn't really need Mick much in this episode and gave him a break.  We also got the siblings sniping at each other this week as well, as Zari went all sister mode on Behrad for his choice in women.  But we see that Zari is a loving and protective sister....showing their family dynamic as strong as ever, even when they argue. 

Overall...not too bad an episode.  Had some character development, had a baddie alien, some humorous moments, but doing their usual stuff.  It's not mind blowing things they're doing on this show, and they're staying the course.  Not sure what they have planned, but hopefully something major---especially if it means John and his quest for the Fountain of Illumination.  Because this season has just been staying in it's lane....but in cruise control...and that 's a problem with a show when it gets creatively stale.  That is what I fear for this program.  It needs a major jolt..and soon.

That's MY thoughts on this week's happenings about the Waverider crew....what about you?  What's YOUR take on the Legends so far this season?  Subscribe and drop me a comment below.  

Until next time....Time is on our side.